Suppose you live in a world where you can download information directly to your brain and know you’re receiving a call because there’s tingling sensation in your finger. Freelance scientist Todd Huffman says the technology is not far off. In fact, he’s already put an implant in his own ring finger that allows him to feel the current running through every electrical appliance he uses.
While the goal of most scientists working with bionics is to help people living with illness or injury, the technology they develop does have “performance enhancing applications.” The bionics that allow people with epilepsy to experience fewer seizures and those with spinal chord injuries to control previously paralyzed limbs can be used to make you stronger, faster, and smarter.
According to Dr. Brian Litt, professor of bioengineering and neurology at the University of Pennsylvania, explains:
"It's a pretty small step to go from that to something that could be potentially used to enhance you in intelligence."
Philip Kennedy, the scientist that developed a brain implant to translate human thoughts into text, believes that there will be performance enhancing variations of his implant within 10 years. He says that the “direct-to-brain information downloads” in The Matrix are not that unrealistic and that the trick is to find a way to not overwhelm the brain in the process.
What do you think about medical technologies that can be used to engineer superhumans? Is it something that’s bound to happen? Allowing already brilliant people to use these technologies could give them the edge they need to come up with cures for cancer, better farming methods, or more efficient energy sources. That said, there’s plenty of room for abuse too. Should we embrace it or is it unethical? Share your thoughts in the comments.
A group of British scientists say that they’ve solved the age-old mystery and that the chicken must have come first.
How do they know? The formation of the shell relies on a protein found only in a chicken’s ovaries. Therefore, a chicken must have existed to produce the first egg.
Have more questions? Perhaps, something along the lines of “why are scientists spending time on this?” Professor John Harding of Sheffield University's Department of Engineering Materials explains:
”'Understanding how chickens make egg shells is fascinating in itself but can also give clues towards designing new materials and processes. Nature has found innovative solutions that work for all kinds of problems in materials science and technology - we can learn a lot from them.”
Do you think they’ve closed the case? Share your thoughts in the comments.
Never mind that worldwide Internet use continues to skyrocket. The 52-year-old Purple Rain singer who’s known for trying to turn his name into a symbol had this to say:
"The Internet is completely over. I don’t see why I should give my new music to iTunes or anyone else. They won’t pay me an advance for it and then they get angry when they can’t get it. The Internet’s like MTV. At one time MTV was hip and suddenly it became outdated. All these computers and digital gadgets are no good. They just fill your head with numbers and that can’t be good for you."
His distaste for all things online became evident in 2007 when he personally had his record company contact YouTube to remove a clip of a baby dancing to one of his songs (below).
He then took down his official site, threatened to sue major sites like YouTube, and eBay for the misuse of his music and sent his legal team after his biggest fan sites, ordering them to remove all music, images, lyrics album covers or anything associated with his likeness.
His refusal to work with even legal pay-sites like iTunes makes it difficult for fans to do what fans do. His latest album, 20Ten, will be distributed as a free gift with the purchase of the UK newspaper, The Daily Mirror and will not be available anywhere as a download; at least until someone uploads it.
It’s a tough connection to make; how can your shiny new gadget be linked to violence in the Congo, including rape that fuels the spread of HIV/AIDS?
Your favorite electronics contain minerals like tin that most often come from conflict zones. As the vid below points out, it turns out that Macs and PCs have something in common after all.
Controlling resources used to produce most major tech products is a lucrative business. Armed groups in the Congo use rape, violence, and murder to instill fear in civilians and control mines and trading routes. They make hundreds of millions each year selling the tin, tungsten, and tantalum they collect to electronics companies.
As consumers and voters, we DO have the power to help stop this! Without your vote, politicians don’t get elected. Without your money, electronics companies don’t make any.
According to John Prendergast, human rights activist and co-founder of the Enough Project,
"A year ago most members of Congress hadn't even heard of conflict minerals. In the middle of a turbulent legislative calendar, activists all over the country were heard loudly and clearly: We demand conflict-free products and we expect our legislators to do all they can to ensure that."
Here’s what you can do right now:
1) Let your favorite electronics company know that you like their products and will gladly buy them again once they stop using conflict minerals. Take the pledge to be part of the solution here.
2) Fill out this quick form to ask your representatives to support the Congo Conflict Minerals Act of 2009. If passed, we’ll be able to hold companies accountable for their supply chains. Kudos to the Senate for already giving it a thumbs up.
3) Tell someone! Real change happens when enough people demand it. Send a tweet, post an update, pass it on.
Have an iPhone, iPod, iPad or any products from Sony, Nintendo, Nokia, Amazon, Microsoft, or Hewlett Packard? There’s a good chance that it came from a Foxconn factory in Southern China.
It’s no secret that working conditions in Chinese factories are not good, but just how bad are they? In the past year, ten Foxconn employees have committed suicide. The latest one, a 19 year old man, jumped from the building after completing his shift.
Most workers at Foxconn are between 18 and 25 and left their parents’ farms in rural China to search for work. They often toil from 4am until late at night, for very little pay (around $150/month), sometimes standing for hours on end.
Before jumping to his death, one young man, accused of loosing one of 16 prototypes that he was responsible for mailing, told his friends that he had been beaten and humiliated by Foxconn security guards.
Foxconn brought in psychologists and Buddhist monks to council workers, as well as punching bags with pictures of supervisors for employees to hit.
While the manufacturer is often criticized by human rights groups, they say that their suicide rate is no higher than average in China. Sad as it is, even the human rights groups admit that it’s far from the worst place to work as far as Chinese factories go.
Apple and several other companies who contract with them have said that they are looking into the issue to make sure that workers are treated fairly. The problem is that what we think of as “fair treatment” differs greatly from the definition of “fair“ in manufacturing regions overseas .
Workers in these factories pay dearly for us to buy more affordable products, but who's to blame? The companies who outsource? Supervisors at the factories? Our government? Theirs? All of us? Tell us what you think.
UK company Tesco Mobile polled 4,000 Brits, aged 18-65, to see what they thought were the most important inventions of all time. The results might surprise you…
According to the final list, the almighty iPhone, deemed the 8th most important invention of all time, is almost as significant as Penicillin, and more essential to human existence than flushing toilets, cars, and space travel. Wow.
Don’t get me wrong, there are almost as many iPhones as there are employees here at the SV HQ - the few Blackberry users keep to themselves to avoid ridicule. Kidding! But seriously, 8th place?!
The Internet nabbed the number four spot and Google, eBay, and Facebook all made the list. Makes sense - how else would we find, buy, and show off the other 97 items without ever leaving our beds? Beds, incidentally, are number 42.
The group deemed Wellington boots (rain boots) to be 85th – go Wellies! While no one likes soggy feet, we still don't know how they beat spell check.
We’re not entirely sure what “nappies” are, but apparently they’re the 62nd most important invention EVER. If they’re talking Zzz’s, we’re in agreement.
Binoculars made the cut at number 78, which we can only assume means there were quite a few bird watchers in the study. That, or there are a lot of peeping Toms out there. Eeek!
Push-up bras (a likely fave of those binocular fans) and Post-it notes were regarded as vital, but conspicuously absent from the list are the printing press, chemotherapy, vaccinations, the cotton gin, recycling, anesthesia and soap. Never fear – with the iPhone at number 8, there should be an app for each of those shortly.
Check out the full list below and see what else made the hot 100.
What would you name as your top three? Tell us in the comments.
100 GREATEST INVENTIONS
1. Wheel
2. Aeroplane
3. Light bulb
4. Internet
5. PCs (why not Macs?!)
6. Telephone
7. Penicillin
8. iPhone
9. Flushing toilet 10. Combustion engine
11. Contraceptive pill
12. Washing machine
13. Central heating
14. Fridge
15. Pain killers
16. Steam engine
17. Freezer
18. Camera
19. Cars 20. Spectacles
21. Mobile phones
22. Toilet paper
23. Hoover (vacuum)
24. Trains
25. Google
26. Microwave
27. Email
28. The pen
29. Hot water 30. Shoe
31. Compass
32. Ibuprofen
33. Toothbrush
34. Hair straighteners
35. Laptops
36. Knife and fork
37. Scissors
38. Paper
39. Space travel 40. Kettle
41. Calculator
42. Bed
43. Remote control
44. Roof
45. Air conditioning
46. SAT NAV (GPS)
47. Wi-Fi
48. Cats-eyes (your guess is as good as ours)
49. Matches 50. Power steering
51. Tumble dryer
52. Bicycle
53. Sky+ (like TiVo)
54. Tea bags
55. Umbrella
56. iPod
57. Taps (faucets)
58. Crash helmet
59. Wristwatch 60. eBay
61. DVD player
62. Nappies (diapers… we think)
63. Ladder
64. Sun tan lotion
65. Lawnmower
66. Make-up
67. Chairs
68. Sunglasses
69. The game of football (soccer) 70. Sliced bread
71. Sofa
72. Razor blades
73. Screwdriver
74. Motorways
75. Head/ear phones
76. Towels
77. Push-up bra
78. Binoculars
79. WD40 80. Mascara
81. Hair dryer
82. Facebook
83. Escalator
84. Hair dye
85. Wellington boots
86. Spell check
87. Calendars
88. Cheese grater
89. Buses 90. Post-it notes
91. Gloves
92. Satellite discs
93. Pedestrian crossing
94. Baby's dummy (pacifier)
95. Curtains
96. Bottle opener
97. Food blender
98. Dustpan and brush
99. Desks 100. Clothes peg
Daniel Radcliffe (yes, as in ‘Harry Potter’) has long been a champion of gay rights; he’s said in the past that he loathes both homophobia, and the people who foster it. While saying that you hate people that foster hate might seem contradictory, we can totally see where he’s coming from: haters = not cool.
One of Daniel’s fave organizations is SocialVibe partner, The Trevor Project, the leading national organization focused on crisis and suicide prevention efforts among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) youth.
Suicide is the 3rd leading cause of death among young people 15-24 and LGBT people in that group are four times more likely to attempt to take their own lives. The truly heartbreaking part of this is that suicide is preventable.
The Trevor Project operates a free, confidential suicide helpline for LGBT or questioning youth - (866) 4-U-TREVOR. Someone will answer your call 24 hours a day.
You can earn free donations for The Trevor Project by choosing them as your cause on SocialVibe.
Tonight, people in hundreds of cities around the world will come together and… tweet. Yes, people from London to New York, Tokyo to Toronto will be tweeting for good tonight at the second annual Twestival.
Last February, the first ever Twestival raked in more than $250,000 for charity: water, enough to build 55 wells and provide 17,000 people in Africa and India with clean, safe water. Most donations occur during the event, and right now - 3pm on the West Coast here in the States – the total has already passed $285,000.
Donations this year will go to Concern Worldwide, an organization working to educate the world's poorest children.
“Twestival doesn't just bring in the dollars. It matters because it raises awareness on a global scale. With more than 48,000 tweets posted about the event so far, Concern Worldwide has seen its message spread by a veritable army of Twitter fanatics,” writes Pete Cashmore, CEO of Mashable, a leading social media blog.
No Twestival event in your neck of the woods? Participate by bidding in the Twestival celeb charity auction on eBay. The list of items ranges from a grab bag from Paris Hilton, to a tour of NBC studios, or even a call from Justin Bieber.
